The Gods Among Us
by 3rdAuror
Summary: Hestia for family, Poseidon for Retribution and Zeus for revenge. Stripped of their immortality and entirely forsaken, the remaining gods must fight for the return of their power. Before Order rules all. Gods-centric story. Post BoO. RATED high T for language and suggestive themes.


**Chapter 1: Mirrors**

Some scholars might say that mirrors are a direct reflection of oneself. To look in the mirror, to properly look in the mirror, is to see an unadulterated version of your inner being and to appreciate your true internal beauty without editing or Photoshop.

When all this was done, Zeus swore on his name and by those of his numerous children that he would sentence each and every scholar who as much as thought along those lines to the deepest pits of the eternal damnation that was Tartarus to rot in their pathetic sayings and fables for two godly life times.

Zeus was a ruler, a king. He did not need to comb his hair, clean his clothes or even tie these accursed shoelaces that seemed to slink out of his grasp whenever he got a proper hold of them. Zeus had had authority, he'd had unfathomable power.

That was striped from him as one might remove a pair of socks and dump them in the laundrey.

It had happened so fast he couldn't even fight back. A quick opening of doors, a massacre that left eight of the Olympian deities dead, one kidnapped and the remaining three positively helpless.

Zeus stood in front of the mirror Hestia had put up for him. Short, black hair that left his head in neat spiky locks, a well trimmed amount of stubble which adorned his cheeks and chin and a frown that made his electric blue eyes startlingly intimidating. He narrowed the eyes at his clothing, he was no longer clad in respectable suits or even as much as the traditional toga. A polo shirt and khaki shorts that run down to his knees. Sneakers. Zeus almost spit in disgust, he looked good regardless, but sneakers really?

He would rain hell on the bustards who did this to him.

"Zeus." The soft voice of his sister brought him out of his enraged musings. He quirked an eyebrow to address her, but felt quite strange in doing so.

It was the usual form of greeting between the two, no hello's or hugs, just mildly irritated expressions and clipped tones. But she didn't look quite like Hestia anymore. She was still in her child guise, whoever had did this to them had been generous enough to leave them in their most preferred appearances, Hestia a child and Zeus a youthful lad who had just turned twenty-one ready to drink and 'make merry'. Hestia did not have that warm glow to her that, though he would never truly admit it, Zeus had grown to love and appreciate. Her eyes no longer burned like fire, but there was still a strange flame to them. A flame alit with danger.

She wasn't an Olympian, but she'd been stripped of her divine authority as well.

Hestia was just as angry as he was. And that was what struck Zeus as odd. Hestia was far too gentle for that sort of emotion.

"Please don't tell me you're as much considering leaving this place Zeus." Even now, in her anger, she smothered him and Poseidon with kindness and concern like she always did.

Zeus glared at his new appearance in the mirror once more before turning, a challenging, yet absolutely mirthless and unpleasant one-sided grin touching his lips. "I have business to attend to Hestia dearest," He could not let Hestia of all people see how broken he was. Because he was, truly and utterly broken. All he'd worked for..."I, unlike you and Hawaiian shorts, enjoy being useful child."

Hestia sighed and rolled her eyes. He was sure she could clearly read through his façade, she always did. Despite their differences, Hestia, along with Poseidon (he'd castrate himself before admitting that to the Sea god), was his favourite sibling. She knew him for himself, not whatever stupid lies Hera concocted and his Demigod children prophesied.

"Zeus are you mad!" Hestia stormed up to him, as if forcing him to look at her mousy-brown hair and the now simply warm brown eyes would sway his decisions. "We are being hunted like deer by some unknown enemy and you want to leave the stronghold?"

Zeus laughed a laugh that still carried some thunder to it. Like his earlier grin, it held nothing but bitterness.

"Stronghold?" Zeus hated being reduced to the standards of a measly demigod. No divine authority, no palace, just an apartment, his two siblings, and a few powers over the weather and lightening here and there. "If you call this pathetic shit-hole of a dog's kennel a stronghold, then yes. I'm going out for a bit."

"Brother, think for once." Hestia looked at him like his stubbornness had left her lost for words.

"Help me with my shoes would you Hes," He dismissed her with a hand motion and lay his shoes in her hands. "Blasted laces! Gods have no need for this things."

Hestia frowned her youthful eight-year-old face at him, ready to yell before the door slammed open and an equally unpleased Poseidon strolled in.

"There's been a development." He said, his tanned face deeply etched with a grim emotion Zeus couldn't quite trace.

He'd been like this for a long while. Zeus had scoffed at his brother's moopy mood at first, he had nothing to miss. No one really cared about the seas or oceans and the world could do with a few less horses and earthquakes. Then he heard about Camp Half-Blood.

"Oceanus has seized all control over the water bodies."

"Well boo-hoo for freaking you brother," Zeus always kept appearances. "It's not like you had your entire legacy stripped away from you with a simple swish of the hand, eh Poseidon?"

"Where do you think you are going brother?" Poseidon's story green eyes met Zeus' electric ones and an aura of anger travelled between them. Hestia did not interrupt the stare down, she probably assumed that both brothers had their own right to be testy.

Zeus did. He had nothing, no home, practically no family. Poseidon had lost his son, a son he loved more than life itself. Well, Zeus had lost his life, his actual life to some...he didn't even know who was involved.

"Out." Was Zeus' simple answer.

Poseidon looked to Hestia in disbelief and Zeus could feel the girl shake her head in disappointment, before Poseidon turned back to glare at him. "Out?" Poseidon was challenging him: _Is your pride really more important than our safety brother?_

Zeus stepped forward, accepting gladly. "Yes. Out, any objections Poseidon?"

Poseidon looked like he was ready to argue, to plead. For a short moment Zeus saw his brother's face alight with brotherly concern, which was soon replaced with a stoic expression. "I think the Titans have a hand in this somehow."

Zeus turned to Hestia who had adopted a stoic expression as well. No more arguments. It hurt, knowing his sister and brother were so utterly disappointed in him they no longer worried for him and his safety. But his anger dulled that pain. He wanted his power back. He wanted Olympus. If having his sibling hate him meant restored glory then so be it.

He walked out, careful to bump into Poseidon's shoulder as he did.

He didn't need their help. He never did.

Red on red.

She fought of a giggle. It was funny, how observant certain things can make you. He hair wasn't actually red was it? It should've been black. She liked it black.

Auburn. That's what it was. He hair was auburn, it was her blood that was red.

Red on auburn then.

It wasn't supposed ti be red. Gold, that was it's colour, a dazzling gold that was sometimes so glorious and rare it was blinding.

Why red?

Then she remembered the attack, the massacre of her family. The massacre of the Olympians. Zeus, Poseidon and Artemis escaped, the later thanks to her own prowess and the two formers with Hestia's aid.

How had Artemis fought them off anyway? Anger?

She vaguely remembered seeing her half sister go raving mad when that golden sword went through her twin brother. Seeing Apollo impaled brought out a strange primitive-ness in the goddess of the hunt.

_Ex-goddess_, she corrected. There was no such thing as gods anymore. Not after their divine authority was taken, not after they were stripped of immorality.

Red. Mortal blood. That's why it hurt so much.

Because only mortals could feel real pain.

Was that why they did it? They wanted to make them feel pain? To punish them? She couldn't have been the only one they wanted.

They didn't even want her. They needed her to find Poseidon. To find Artemis. To find Zeus. Mostly Zeus.

She felt a hand stroke her red on auburn hair gently.

He was back. Did he ever leave?

He cupped her chin in his hand and pulled her lolling head up to look at him.

Scars, pain. That was all she really saw. Power.

"And here I thought I'd never see the day." He commented, like he did everyday.

Everyday? How long had it been?

"The goddess of Wisdom, on her knees drooling like some sort of child."

Not drool. Tears, hot and salty tears.

He came closer, so close his breath tickled the dirt on her face. "Tell me where they are Athena, and this will all be over."

Over. She'd be dead. She wasn't as stupid as she wanted Prometheus to believe. Athena's wisdom never left her, it just toned down.

Prometheus didn't need to know that.

"Where is Zeus?"

She giggled this time. The thought of Athena selling out the fleeting amount of family members she had was actually very funny. Hilarious even.

Family.

"Strands of DNA will occasionally create complex knots called catananes during the process of recombination," Athena laughed a little. "Or when attacked by a virus."

Prometheus and his allies were the virus.

Prometheus frowned angrily. That was the kind of response she'd been offering him lately. The most almost random and seemingly unconnected facts she could think up.

Only the weren't random. Not really.

"I will break you Athena..."

"I'm a little surprised you showed up," Zeus' fists clenched so tightly his nails dug into his skin and drew blood. This was the voice that had haunted his nightmares for far too long. It was everywhere, above him, besides him, but also nowhere at all. "My, my have you changed."

Zeus didn't move, he levelled his breathing and immediately took a defensive stance. The bolt was destroyed along with everything else in Olympus, but that didn't mean he'd come unprepared. He brandished his gold sword, which reflected the bright lights of the city lampposts, illuminating his blue eyes that pulsed with electricity and anger.

Of course it was him. He wanted nothing more than to destroy everything Zeus had sacrificed to achieve and he had. He'd taken away everything.

Zeus would get his revenge.

"Don't you need your little toadies to save you my son?"

Kronos' voice took effect, making Zeus feel weaker, slower and less agile. Zeus shook the fatigue out off his eyes and twirled his sword challengingly. "Fight me, coward."

He'd wanted to yell, but he could barely move. He was so drained, so slow.

Kronos stepped forward in his bronze skinned, gold eyed, and smirking faced glory, circling the younger ex-deity like a vulture watching its prey. Zeus briefly wondered what the mortals would see, two guys having a meaningless brawl. Zeus lashed at him, swinging outward in what seemed to be slow motion, but Kronos easily sidestepped the swipe and brought his elbow down on Zeus' wrist with a sickening _crack_.

He screamed, instantly recoiling, grabbing his wrist and almost dropping his sword in pain. He growled, then yelled and screamed again. It hurt like someone had taken the worlds largest truck, put a crane on it and then drove over his wrist with it until the bone was ground to dust.

"Y'know you've grown boy. Back in the day your clothes couldn't even fit little Demeter." Kronos chuckled, adjusting the tie of his classy suit as he did. Zeus froze. Kronos had called him here, not only to beat the living shit out of him, but to add insult to injury. "Know look at you. Tall, handsome, and with some really good taste. This thing fits like a glove doesn't it?" Here Kronos was, wearing _Zeus' _suit, _Zeus' _tie and _Zeus' _polished shoes as proof of his power.

_Zeus' _rightful power.

In a rage he charged, logic completely abandoned. His sword swung at his father's head in a dangerous arch, a fatal blow that Kronos easily met with his protected wrist. Sparks flew and Zeus twisted himself so he was behind Kronos, elbowing him in the back. An attack that might have been competent and effective in his godly body proved utterly futile as the bone of his elbow broke at impact.

Zeus cried out again, a loud wail of agony that couldn't be morphed by even the Mist. He stumbled and fell to the ground after Kronos granted him a quick flat-footed kick in the chest. Zeus tried to roll onto his back. One side had a broken wrist and the other a shattered elbow, he couldn't support his own wait.

Kronos grabbed his shoulder and squeezed so hard it broke before effortlessly flipping his son onto his back.

"Huh?" Kronos sounded so un-impressed. "They really did take away your godly authority. What are you know some sort of Demigod?" When Zeus didn't answer, to busy yelling and writhing in pain the Titan continued his taunting. "Here I was thinking our show down would be the littlest bit fun Zeus. Imagine me getting out of Tartarus just to see my favourite son to find this, sad really."

Kronos materialised his scythe from thin air. "Here's how we do this, hmm. I torture you for a while, you scream your lungs out, then I kill you." Kronos brought the scythe's blade down on Zeus' thigh with such force it went straight through Zeus' flesh like a spoon into ice cream and firmly imbedded itself in the ground.

Zeus screams were deafening, which only made Kronos' smirk grow.

Zeus sight was dimming, but he could still see the blood and raw flesh. He would've thrown up if it weren't for the intensity of the pain and screaming it provoked.

This was how he'd die, at the hands of a father he was breed to destroy. He'd die with a significant half of his family died, the other half too disappointed or angry with his actions to care about his demise.

He'd die with nothing.

"What was that Zeus, the next leg?" Kronos pulled out the scythe with a disgusting splotch and raised it over his head. Zeus braced himself for the pain, trying and failing to not be pathetic about it. It was a millimetre away from his other Khaki clad thigh when Kronos stopped, smiled and turned as if to address someone.

"I think he asked you to stop," Zeus struggled to bring his head up high enough to see who had spoken. Mousy-brown hair and youthful features.

Hestia.

"I do remember hearing something along those lines." Someone beside her spoke. He was tall and bearded with a tacky trident in hand.

They'd found him.

Kronos did not seem all too pleased. "Hestia and Poseidon, so nice for the family to be all together again."

A column of flames erupted in Hestia's hand and Poseidon willed the water in the sewers to creep out of nearby drainages, and from what he could see both looked very unhappy.

"Hostility is expected I'm sure," Kronos vanished his weapon and put his arms up in the universal gesture of surrender. Beating Zeus had been easy because he had been blinded by rage and was so clouded he never thought of using lightening, but fighting Poseidon and Hestia, as angry as they seemed, would take forever. Even though they weren't as powerful, the ex-gods' powers over their individual elements hadn't quite extinguished.

"But can you really blame me?"

"Leave father." Hestia spoke in a voice Zeus hadn't heard in quite a long while. The voice she used when she did not want to unleash her fiery rage, but was at breaking point.

Poseidon caught Zeus' eye and brought his left eyelids together in a quick wink before nodding at the water that had crawled its way to Kronos feet and crept onto Zeus' back. Zeus focused the little energy he had on the lightening that coursed through his veins. Nothing around him mattered, not the firm argument between Kronos and Hestia, not the water that soothed his aching body, not the blood and flesh. His senses failed him, all he could see, hear and feel was the tingle of electricity in the air, in his body, everywhere.

And then he screamed.

The large bolt of lightening struck with a loud, crackling boom. Kronos vanished. Tendrils of electricity consumed Zeus, mending his wounds and making him more alert than he had ever been in his life.

Hestia and Poseidon rushed to help him up. The wounds had not fully healed and they needed to leave before any more Titans showed up.

No one spoke, they were all just content with the fact that Zeus was still alive and breathing.

As they dragged him across the water stained floor, he saw his reflection in a puddle: Dirty, bloody and defeated.

A true, unadulterated reflection of himself.

**That was pretty fun to write! Like damn!**

**Anyway I really, really hoped you liked it. I'm really excited about writing this story and seeing as the reviewing rate of fanfiction is going way down, I'm just praying at least one of you like this story.**

**Hit me a review and tell me what you think.**

**Also for those of you who care, most chapters are going to be in Zeus' POV.**

**Love you guys!**


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